Australian Grand Prix: Dominant Hamilton leads Mercedes one-two

Lewis Hamilton led Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg from start to finish in Australia

Published:10:44Sunday 15 March 2015

Defending world champion Lewis Hamilton made the perfect start to his title defence when produced a supreme display to cruise to victory at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.

The Briton led from start to finish as he took a comfortable win from Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg with Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel finishing third.

Both Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez picked up points for Force India

Max Verstappen suffered disappointment on his F1 debut when he was forced out of the race with an engine problem, but Toro Rosso team-mate Carlos Sainz Jr finished ninth to take two points in his maiden Grand Prix.

After only 15 cars started the race – the lowest number of starters for a season-opening race since 1963 – just 11 crossed the finishing line due to a mixture of unreliability and on-track collisions.

There were no such problems for Hamilton though as the Briton stormed away from pole before he gradually built-up a commanding lead over Rosberg, who could only settle for second place for another one-two for the Brackley-based Mercedes team.